Everyone who’s conversant in the 2 hottest deer species within the U.S. has their very own technique of telling a mule deer from a whitetail. If you occur to dwell in an space the place the 2 species’ ranges overlap, you then’ve most likely been taking part in the “mule deer versus whitetail” recreation for some time. Maybe your mind works on autopilot and you’ll establish the species immediately. Or possibly you continue to wrestle and have to double-check the tail—essentially the most surefire identifier—each time you see a deer.
Here’s the issue with ready for a tail sighting: If you see a muley’s white rump or a whitetail’s flag, it’s most likely as a result of that deer is operating in the wrong way. But you don’t have to attend that lengthy to verify which species is in your optics. Here are a number of different methods to differentiate between the 2. After all, an accurate identification can find yourself being the distinction between a memorable hunt and a quotation for an unlawful harvest.
Mule Deer vs. Whitetail: Face
Let’s assume a doe is both quartering towards you or standing broadside and looking out your manner. You can’t depend on tail or antlers to establish the deer species. How do you inform the 2 faces aside?
Mule deer normally have lighter fur that covers from their eyes to their noses, whereas whitetails have rings of sunshine fur round their eyes and nostril however darker fur on the remainder of their faces. Both species have white patches on their throats, however the darker fur above the eyes of most mule deer is usually a good inform. (This can look rather a lot like a unibrow, particularly on bucks.) Whitetails’ faces are usually barely narrower, though that is perhaps onerous to note except you’ve gotten a muley standing close by for comparability.
Ultimately, search for a distinction in coloration between the fur across the eyes and on the bridge of the nostril. If the colours are uniform, you’re most likely taking a look at a whitetail. If the fur is darker above the eyes than on the snout, it’s most likely a mule deer.
Mule Deer vs. Whitetail: Ears
Let’s assume we’re nonetheless differentiating between antlerless deer. Anyone who has glassed deer within the West is intimately conversant in what a set of ears peeking by tall grass seems like. If you’re in an space the place muleys and whitetails overlap, figuring out deer by their ears alone is all the time a enjoyable take a look at.
Mule deer have been really named for his or her massive ears, in accordance with the Mule Deer Foundation. The decrease fringe of a muley’s ear is extra curved, whereas the higher edge extends in a near-straight line from the cranium plate at a roughly 120-degree angle. Whitetail ears are noticeably smaller. They are additionally extra rounded and sit a bit greater on the top. When absolutely alert, they stand at nearer to a 100-degree angle from the cranium plate. In some cases, mule deer ears bottleneck the place they connect to the top earlier than fanning out, whereas whitetail ears are usually a bit wider on the base. Both units of ears have darkish edges, however the coloration distinction in mule deer ears is usually extra pronounced.
Mule Deer vs. Whitetail: Antlers
Now let’s assume you’re observing a well-adorned buck and need to establish the species based mostly on its antlers. Without a doubt, antlers are the one function that varies essentially the most from particular person to particular person, so typically a mule deer buck can have antlers that barely resemble a whitetail’s, or vice versa. But there are many structural consistencies in each species’ antlers which you can depend on to make the right identification.
Classic, typical whitetail antlers have one distinguished essential beam on either side that curves round—typically parallel to the bottom on extra mature deer—and towards their noses. Generally, you may hint that beam from the pedicle, or the place the antler grows from the cranium plate, to the very tip on the entrance of the rack. Tines shoot off this essential beam at perpendicular or near-perpendicular angles.
Typical mule deer antlers, then again, aren’t centered on the primary beam. Instead, either side of the antler forks close to the bottom, then forks once more within the rear and entrance. The threshold for a mature mule deer is usually (although not all the time) whether or not or not he has “both forks” on either side of his antlers. The antlers are likely to develop extra upward than ahead. These Boone and Crockett antler scoresheets assist illustrate the variations between typical whitetail and typical mule deer antlers.
Whitetail antlers are usually lighter in coloration, straighter, and extra uniform. They additionally are usually smaller on common than mule deer antlers. Mule deer fanatics love the bucks’ tendencies to develop nontypical racks stuffed with drop tines, kickers, palmated tines, and different funky options. While nontypical whitetails are additionally absolutely able to that form of rack, they’re extra more likely to be lacking or carrying an additional tine on one facet than they’re to have the messy, errant development that nontypical mule deer have.
Mule Deer vs. Whitetail: Body
In phrases of coloration, each deer species are usually extra red-brown in the summertime and so they lose their redness within the fall and winter as they flip grey. Mule deer get barely extra grey than whitetails do, nevertheless it’s actually onerous to note that except you see the 2 species standing side-by-side in the identical gentle.
Mule deer will get a little bit larger than whitetails, particularly main as much as the rut. Mule deer bucks can weigh round 330 kilos, about 30 kilos greater than their heaviest white-tailed counterparts. Both species have white bellies and white on the insides of their legs.
Mule Deer vs. Whitetail: Tail
The tail needs to be the final physique half you utilize to establish the species—particularly for those who don’t need to wait to see the deer operating away from you. That stated, figuring out a peaceful deer by its rump is a helpful option to differentiate between the species.
Mule deer have fluffy, cream-colored rumps with a brief, white tail that ends in a black tuft. Sometimes you may see the faint edges of a white rear-end on a broadside view of the deer, however not all the time. Luckily, the white rump with the little black tuft is a fairly clear sign in mule deer nation, so even when it’s strolling away from you, it’s straightforward to select towards a sagebrush sea from a whole bunch of yards away.
Whitetail deer don’t reveal their namesake till they flag their flap-like tails. When that tail is down, the skin blends with the remainder of the deer’s physique coloration and just some tufts of white hair is perhaps seen across the edges. But when a whitetail decides to get gone, the tail raises straight up within the air to disclose the shock-white fur for which they’re named. By the time that occurs, your probabilities of consuming tag soup are likely to go up.
The Best Way to Tell a Mule Deer from a Whitetail Deer
There’s no proper or incorrect manner to make sure what deer species you’re observing. By trying out the entire image and sizing up the face and ears first, adopted by antlers (if there are any), it is best to be capable to make an correct identification while not having a glimpse on the tail. The extra you deer hunt and the extra deer you see, the higher you’ll get at figuring out mule deer versus whitetail.